Makoto Tamada took provisional pole in Sugo by a massive 0.992secs from fellow wildcard rider Shinichi Ito, with
Troy Corser (pictured) third – and over a second adrift of the top Japanese rider.
With the local factory Honda riders so dominant, it was up to Troy Corser to uphold the honour of the visiting race teams, finishing third on the timesheets on his Aprilia, one place ahead of another local, Kawasaki man Tamaki Serizawa.
Corser is trying to become not only the first non-Japanese to win a race at Sugo since 1995, but also the first rider of a twin cylinder machine to win for the same number of years.
Spanish rider Gregorio Lavilla continued his impressive early form to go fifth fastest overall, and hold off the late charge of no less a rider than world champion
Colin Edwards. Edwards was to prove to be the top Michelin- equipped rider on a day when many of the top riders in the championship race were to struggle.
Experienced Yamaha rider Wataru Yoshikawa was seventh, 1.486 seconds from Tamada, while 1999 SBK race winner Akira Ryo took the final place on the second row of the provisional grid on his All Japan Suzuki.
Neil Hodgson was bumped from his potential second row starting place by the upwardly-mobile Edwards, and ended up ninth fastest, just ahead of Pierfrancesco Chili's Alstare Suzuki.
Top factory Ducati proved to be the Dunlop-equipped L&M machine of Ben Bostrom, a rider who toughed it out behind the strong local competition and finished in 11th place.
One local who struggled badly was Castrol Honda rider Tadayuki Okada, in 12th. Poor tyre grip also dropped Championship leader
Troy Bayliss and his Infostrada Ducati to a lowly 15th on the timesheets.
Last year's double Sugo race winner Hitoyasu Izutsu, a semi-permanent SBK entrant this season, was another who toiled hard for little reward from the stopwatch, only one place higher on the timesheets than Bayliss.
